A scientist loads a DNA sample into a gel for laboratory analysis.

A scientist loads a DNA sample into a gel for laboratory analysis.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Some genetic assays such as this one, at UC San Francisco's Comprehensive Cancer Center, were on perilous legal ground until the Supreme Court Thursday struck down a patent on the sequencing of two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

Some genetic assays such as this one, at UC San Francisco's Comprehensive Cancer Center, were on perilous legal ground until the Supreme Court Thursday struck down a patent on the sequencing of two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Some genetic assays such as this one, at UC San Francisco's Comprehensive Cancer Center, were on perilous legal ground until the Supreme Court Thursday struck down a patent on the sequencing of two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.